Last month, we reported that legendary Venetian restaurant Polpo would be opening in Lewisham. Many assumed it was a mistake. Even we thought it more likely to be a pop-up than an permanent base. But the Evening Standard interviews founder Russell Norman and Polpo Lewisham is evidently going to be the real deal. They report:

Polpo Lewisham is due to open by the end of the year in what Norman calls “an ugly Sixties building that used to be an OAP drop-in centre.” It will arrive at the same time as his first restaurant outside the capital, in Brighton... He isn’t planning to turn Lewisham into the new Soho. The Polpo there will be a neighbourhood place. “I’d discourage people from travelling to get there,” he says. “When you go to a place on the Tube your expectations are unreasonably high."
As Brockley Market and #ModelMarket have shown, people will travel to this part of London if the product's right. But even if the central Lewisham building site deters many, there will be huge demand on their doorstep. The team have promised us more details soon.